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Unexpected Chichester visit
I left home with a train ticket to Portsmouth and a plan for an explorer afternoon. Southern Rail had other plans. There were problems on the network around Portsmouth so the train I was on only got as far as Chichester. The National Rail app was showing the occasional train that seemed to be heading Portsmouth way, but it looked like I’d be waiting at least an hour for something that might not run. I decided to cut my losses and spend the afternoon in Chichester instead, with an eye out for places I hadn’t been before as well as the always-lovely Pallant House Gallery, which had an exhibition I’d flagged as potentially interesting.
I started at The Novium, enjoying the Roman remains and especially the craftsmanship of the mosaics. Amazing to think of the people who laid them, walked on them, dug them out, preserved them, and now look at them.
Next was Oxmarket Contemporary. I loved the space and the sense of calm, and spent some happy time with the exhibits.
Then on to Pallant House Gallery for lunch and more art. I started with British Landscapes: A sense of place exhibition, which merged into Haroun Hayward: Path through Trees.
I was particularly taken with the wood engravings in A Sense of Place. I always seem to forget how much I enjoy them. Such intricate work, and often so very sharp.
My tangent of the day was war-related. It started with wondering what a camouflage artist was, then progressed to finding out more about the War Artists’ Advisory Committee. Ravillious provided an interesting link between the wood engravings, the war, and The Old Ways which I’ve recently finished reading, where his war career and sad death while on duty as a war artist are mentioned.
That thread led me back to Oxmarket too. A wall panel there explained that the gallery occupies a former church, damaged by bombing on 10th February 1943. Adrian Hill painted what the church looked like after it was hit, working from a photograph. He had been chosen as a war artist during the First World War and was the first artist commissioned by the Imperial War Museum - perhaps that experience meant he wasn’t averse to darker subjects. He is also widely considered to have founded art therapy, having coined the term after using art to recover from his own wartime experiences.
War artists followed me around all afternoon.
I also got to see Rana Begum: No.1367 Mesh as I wandered around the rest of the house.
Not the day I’d planned, but I made the most of it and saw plenty of art.
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Mum's music collection
Mum loved music. She sang in an operatic society, and later a choir. She went to musicals and to classical concerts. And she had records - 45s, 78s, and albums.
At some point while clearing out the family home fifteen years ago I decided to photograph some of them and transcribe her notebook of music. So I’ve had Claude put them together into grids.
The LPs are the most plentiful. They’ve been ordered chronologically using, in order: any date label Mum had stuck to the cover, any matching entry with a date in her notebook, or the release date.
I have no idea whether I ever photographed the 45s, and I couldn’t locate them in my archive. I have her notebook entries but nothing else - it’s also possible she’d got rid of some over the years without updating it, perhaps when she started buying CDs.
The 78s are interesting mainly for their covers - branded with the name of the shop that sold them rather than the artists. Some of those names I remember from my childhood.
These photos have been waiting fifteen years for me to do something with them. It feels good to have acknowledged Mum’s music in some way.
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Today’s walk: Haywards Heath to Bolney Wine Estate
For her birthday last autumn I bought a friend a voucher for a pairing tour and tasting at Bolney Wine Estate. We got it booked in for a summer Friday and hoped the weather would be kind. It’s fair to say it was perhaps a little too kind - it was a warm and sunny day.
We both enjoy a walk, so I was tasked with planning a route using public transport to get us somewhere close. With a lot of help from OS Maps I planned a walk from Haywards Heath to Bolney Wine Estate - about 7 miles, taking around 2.5 hours. The first part skirted around Haywards Heath, avoiding most of the built-up area before taking us through woodland.
About a third of the way in we reached Cuckfield, the only real refreshment stop, so we took a break and had lunch there. The walk followed the Sussex Diamond Way and High Weald Landscape Path in places, and the vistas opened out nicely.
We were both a bit hot and sticky by the time we reached the estate, but soon cooled down in the air-conditioned cafe and shop.
The tour and tasting was a good experience. The tastings were generous, and we both left with bottles - and some Cocoa Loco chocolate. To round off the day we sat on the balcony of the restaurant with a glass of Classic Cuvée.
